INTERVIEW: Inherit The Stars (21/01/2016)

January 21st, 2016

Over the years, Steel City (that’s kind of a slang name for the Yorkshire city of Sheffield) have managed to push out quite a lot of talent into the stratosphere, especially within the world of rock and metal. Fresh faced newcomers Inherit The Stars, who combine sounds for all different corners of the alternative music scope, are out to become another one to add to the list, and are out to make 2016 a year that they make a name for themselves on a much wider scale.

We caught up with frontman Dan Jeffrey to talk about how the band came to be, the success from their tours across the UK throughout 2015, what to expect from their new single ‘Fortune Favours The Brave’, and what other plans they currently have for the year ahead.

DP!: Good day, Dan. How are things going in the Inherit The Stars camp?Dan: Good afternoon! All is well, thanks! Very busy, but that’s nothing new, and thanks for having us. I’m currently avoiding doing my day job while I’m writing this, so thanks for the opportunity to procrastinate!

DP!: On the grand scheme of things, you guys are still new kids on the block. Would you mind briefly explaining how you all came together to form the band, and how you landed with the name Inherit The Stars?D: Absolutely we are! I guess the roots of the band stem back from a band Lewis (bass), Chris (guitar) and I were in together called Decode. Inherit The Stars came about when Decode started work on its first full-length album, it was a big change in direction both sonically and lyrically. We also had a guitarist line-up change, so it just made sense and was basically a natural progression to say goodbye to Decode and to start again under a fresh banner and with a fresh approach – thus Inherit The Stars was born. Marc, our drummer, is a fairly new addition to the line-up, and he’s brought a fantastic dynamic. We’ve known him and have performed together in various other bands for years. In fact, Lewis, Chris and Marc are all friends from school, so it’s kind of poetic almost how we’ve all ended up together on this mad journey.

The name is the first from a series of sci-fi novels written in the 70s called ‘The Gentle Giants of Ganymede’, written by James P Hogan. It’s basically about humans having to go out in search of a new home after we’ve expended all our resources on Earth. We also always wanted our sound to not be out of place in a sci-fi movie, so it was just the perfect choice! I guess it just struck a chord with all of us.

DP!: For those who are perhaps hearing your name for the first time reading this interview, and are yet to have a note of your material hit their ears, how would you go about describing your sound and style?D: In all honesty, we don’t even know how to describe it. We’ve been branded as rock, metal, post-hardcore, metalcore, alternative, electronicore. I know that’s the most ambiguous answer in the world, but it’s true.

If you cross Fightstar’s pop sensibilities, 30 Seconds To Mars’ soundscape, Crossfaith’s aggression and dynamic, and then Finch’s pace and ambience, you’re somewhere in the ball park.

I guess the best way is to listen to it and make your own mind up about what we are.

DP!: Just over a year ago, you guys released your EP, ‘Beyond The Beacons’. With more than 12 months to reflect back on it, are you still happy with that release in terms of how it finally came out and how it was received?D: For sure. It got some incredible acclaim and reviews. Rock Sound gave it an 8/10. It made a Rock Sound cover CD, and both Big Cheese and Punktastic gave it glowing reviews. So, everything that could’ve gone well ended up better that we hoped, especially in the critic arena.

We also had 5000 units of it made up and handed them out for free at touring bands shows round the country. Practically overnight we made an incredible fan base with that record, so it holds a very special place in our hearts. It was so much fun to tour it as well because we’d been playing our first album and a standalone single for the better part of 18 months.

The only thing we’d probably change is the single choice. It wasn’t as popular as some of the heavier tracks on it, which isn’t the worst thing in the world.

DP!: You also were on the road for quite a bit of 2015, where you played shows alongside Funeral For A Friend and We Are The Ocean, to name just a few. Any highlights from your time of the road that you’d like to share?D: Yeah. As I mentioned before, we travelled up and down the country handing out copies of the EP at different touring bands shows, then we booked our own tour in all the same towns and cities we’d handed them out in. So, because we’d taken this approach, we already had loads of fans in each place we played. The highlights were us going to other cities and people already being there for us; singing the words, moshing, dancing, buying t-shirts, bringing their friends. It was spectacular. We had a brilliant summer, playing with Funeral For A Friend and We Are The Ocean are things bands like us dream about, playing alongside bands we listen to and love. Moments like that dig down in your memory forever.

DP!: Fast-forwarding to today; you’ve got a new single called ‘Fortune Favours The Brave’, and a video to go along with it. How does this new material pick up from where you left off on the EP?D: It’s leaps and bounds ahead. It’s 100% our finest work to date. It’s basically every track from the EP condensed into one super track.

It’s bolder, riskier and braver. I think it’s just a perfect showcase of what we do best. It’s heavy, it’s melodic, it’s dripping with synths and it’s just the music we’ve always wanted to make.

It’s a foot to the floor heavy track, with a massive chorus and hooks up to its eyeballs and we’ve never been prouder of anything that we’ve done. In case you can’t tell, WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT!

DP!: The artwork for it has the recognisable Guy Fawkes/Anonymous mask, and we see it towards the closing seconds on the video too. Can you talk more about why this fella is popping about for this song?D: The artwork was done by Brandon Bolmer (Maskerade, ex-Chiodos). He’s a super talented guy whose ideas just fit with ours completely.

Without getting too political about it (I could go on for days), it’s basically just our little nod to corruption and the lies that we’re all fed daily to distract us from what’s actually going on in the world. I think that more and more people are realising this every day and, pretty soon, there’ll be a big change. Or at least I hope. The Guy Fawkes mask is the embodiment of that idea, and lyrically, so is the song.

DP!: Along with this new track, what else do you guys have planned so far for the year ahead?D: More new music! We’ve already been in the studio the first week of January working on our next record, and we’re hoping to have it finished before the summer. Then just the usual really; gigging at every opportunity as often and as far away as we can.

DP!: Any final words before we wrap things up?D: Thanks very much for reading and having us. We hope that you like the new release as much as we do, and hopefully we’ll be able to see you all at a show!

The band’s new single, ‘Fortune Favours The Brave’, is out on January 25th 2016, and can be pre-ordered now (here).